Fed ordered to disclose emergency loan details

The Federal Reserve must for the first time identify the companies in its emergency lending programs after losing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

Manhattan Chief U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled against the central bank yesterday, rejecting the argument that loan records aren’t covered by the law because their disclosure would harm borrowers’ competitive positions.

I would’ve been in the camp of “opacity” months ago, because I recognized that possible risks to the system that might come from revealing information. But now, I am warming up to this idea. Just because we’ve already come down from this recession’s peak, things have stabilized and if there were to have any reactions from the market, it would not be significant. It could potentially be significant only to the individual stocks – but even that wouldn’t be catastrophic. So… no worries Ben. Everything should be alright.